Heart of a Hero
by halfmyheart
Summary: Hero's are not born, they are made.
1. Into Thin Air

I don't own them...if only...

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Andros knew that something wasn't right and the longer he waited the more anxious he became. He looked at his watch again and realized that Ashley was over an hour late.

_It' nothing_, he told himself; _Maybe she was just held up at work, _but as the minuets ticked by he become ever more concerned because it wasn't like Ashley to be late, she would at least call and tell him if she was going to be. Struck by a sudden though Andros looked at his phone, but the small screen glared blankly back up at him without a single missed call.

_That's it_, he thought picking up his jacket and phone. Fifteen minuets later he was standing on Ashley's front porch, the feeling of foreboding that had been gnawing at him on the drive over intensified ten fold when he saw the door hang off of its hinges. He immediately switched into warrior mode as he stepped cautiously into the darkened house, ready for anything that might pop out of the darkness. His sharp eyes scanned the room around him; the broken glass and upturned furniture that littered the floor were obvious signs of a struggle.

"Ashley?" He called softly, but his words were met with empty silence.

Stepping over a broken lamp, Andros made his way upstairs but found nothing to indicate what had happened in the house below.

"Ashley, where are you," he called through the silent house. Still no answer.

As he stepped into the kitchen he felt his foot land on something hard. He knelt down to investigate and felt his heart sink. There, sitting in a fresh puddle of blood, was Ashley's morpher. He reached out and picked it up, his eyes following the crimson trial that lead from the puddle to the open back door and out onto the porch before disappearing completely. A sudden flash of hatred and fear gripped his heart as he stepped out onto the deck.

"Ashley!"

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"I'm just saying," said Hayley with a nonchalant shrug.

"Well don't," said Tommy, "besides it's none of your business anyway."

Hayley sighed. Tommy was a tough cookie to crack. When he set his mind to something there was no changing it. Sometimes that was a good thing, but most of the time it just served to frustrate the hell out of Hayley. Today was turning out to be one of those days when she wanted to scream at him; problem was that he could scream back. He never did, he was too disciplined for that, but she was sure he could.

"Come on Tommy, we're friends. You can tell me what is **really **bothering you. I know you aren't still upset about the lab incident. I'm sure that kid didn't really mean to blow it up. Accident's happen you know."

Tommy ignored her, choosing instead to glare at the floor.

Hayley had a hunch as to what was bothering him, but she had long ago learned that asking for answers about his mysterious past was like asking him to dye his hair hot pink, it was never gonna happen. His past, as Hayley had found out the hard way, was dangerous territory, completely out of bounds. _Don't go there_ he had said when she had brought it up once. But Hayley could be stubborn, she pushed the subject and was met with a few choice words and a weeks worth of silence. She cringed at the memory. Some mistakes were not worth repeating the second time and she was willing to bet money that whatever was bothering Tommy had something to do with his past.

"Tommy," she tried again.

"Don't," he snapped.

"Maybe I can help…"

"What? Are you a psychiatrist?"

"No," she said, immediately sensing that Tommy was getting irritated by her questions.

Hayley stood, deciding that it was better to quite while she was ahead, "fine, but if you change your mind I'll be in the lair." She turned and left Tommy in peace, wondering how she could get him to talk without risking there friendship.

As soon as Haley was gone Tommy stood and crossed to the table where his phone sat. He tapped it uncertainly before finally hitting the play button on the answering machine again. For the second time that day his voice filled the darkened room.

"Hey. This is Tommy. Leave a message and I'll get back to you." BEEP!

"Hey Tommy. It's Jason. Listen we need to talk. It's important." There was an awkward pause before his friend continued. "It's Kim, something has happened. Please give me a call. It's **important**!" Jason had placed a good deal of emphasis on the last word.

Tommy picked up the phone and dialed Jason's number as the machine cut off again. Had it been anyone else he would have deleted the message and never thought about it again, but it was Jason.

_But this had better be good_ he thought as he waited for Jason to pick up on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Jase, hey it's Tommy."

"Oh, hey man. How's it going?"

"Fine, I got your message. What's up?"

There was a momentary silence before Jason spoke again. "Something happened to Kimberly. I'm not sure what. I went to her house when her boss said that she never showed up for work .I thought, you know, maybe she was sick or something, but when I got there the door was torn right off of it's hinges and her house was trashed. There was obviously a struggle, because there was a huge trail of blood that led to the backyard, but there was no Kimberly. She's gone man."

Jason waited for Tommy to reply to his news but there was only silent air.

"Tommy? Are you still there," he asked, concern creeping into his voice.

"Yeah…….what do you mean gone," Tommy asked, dreading the answer.

"Gone," said Jason," as in vanished into thin air."

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Well, what do you think? Worth continuing?


	2. Nightmares

A/N I really didn't like the first version of this, it didn't turn out at all like I had planned. So I went back and rewrote it the way I had intended the first time. The first chapter is still the same but everything else is going to be completely different. So give it a try, it will definitely be better this time around.

* * *

Tommy didn't sleep well that night; he kept tossing and turning as a thousand questions raced through his mind, each one more frightening than the first. He finally gave up and just lay there staring forlornly out the window.

_It wasn't enough to ruin my life one time,_ he thought savagely to himself. _No, just when I finally get settled and feel like I'm doing something with my life, she has to come back and destroy it too!_

Disgusted, Tommy rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. He splashed icy water onto his face to try and rid himself of the painful memories, but as he stared at his reflection in the mirror he knew that it would take more than cold water to wake him up from his current nightmare. Sighing, he slammed the light switch into the off position and went in search of something cold to drink, something that would calm his nerves or at very least put him back to sleep for a while.

As he reached into the refrigerator his hand froze. What was he doing? It was two am and he had to be at school early in the morning, there was no way he could deal with a bunch of rowdy teenagers and a hangover form hell at the same time, he'd be killed half of them before the day was over.

Deciding that it wasn't worth risking the safety of innocent kids and his sanity, Tommy switched gears and violently grabbed the milk carton instead. He poured a small glass and sat down on a stool.

_This is not how I wanted the school year to start out, _he thought. _Just when you think you've escaped that life for good, it always seems to come and suck you right back in._ _As if I don't have enough to deal with already!_

It didn't take him long to decided that he needed to sit down and come up with a plan of action. He didn't know much about what had happened and he wouldn't until he meet with Andros and Jason, but at least some plan was better than no plan at all. Besides, he knew that sleep would elude him for the rest of the night. It was something that he was truly grateful for, the nightmares were too much to bear.

--- --- ---

"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking you," said a very irritated Jason.

Zack sighed. "I know that man; I just thought that maybe you had come up with something better."

"Oh you mean better than sitting here and doing nothing? Nope, sorry but I'm at a loss."

"Don't be like that," said Zack rolling his eyes. "You're acting like we're still in high school or something. Sarcasm will get you no where in the real world."

"Thanks for the warning man, but in case you haven't noticed I get along just fine. The way I see it there are two kinds of people in this world. The ones with a sense of humor and the sticks in the mud without a sense of humor, and since we graduated," he clapped Zack on the back," you have fallen into the latter category bro."

Zack shot his friend a death glare before deciding to let his comments go.

"Whatever man, can we just concentrate on what were doing. I mean, this is Kimberly were talking about here."

Jason immediately sobered and the mischievous smile that had been plastered across his face just moments before vanished.

"So," he said turning to face the man kneeling on the ground around Kim's steps, "find anything yet?"

Andros shook his head and turned off his scanner. "No. There is nothing here to find. It really is like she vanished into thin air."

Jason slowly nodded as the realization began to sink in for the first time. A cold shiver ran down his spine and fear began to grip his heart, "so we are back to where we started? Back to…nowhere." _With no way of knowing if the girls are ok, or even alive_ he added silently to himself. He watched Andros' face in a desperate attempt to see something that wasn't there. He wanted the man to say something else, anything else. That they had been taken by a monster, at least then they would have a place to start looking, but Andros merely stood there, his eyes downcast and watery, his hands hanging limply by his sides.

"Don't worry," Jason heard himself say, "we're gonna find them."

The words sounded hollow and distant to his own ears, but as he spoke he saw a gleam of hope light up Andros' face.

_Hope_, he thought bitterly, _was something that was he had never put much stock in. Hope was the stuff of fairytale endings… _

--- --- ---

Tommy slowly walked to class, hating the cursed bell as it reverberated through his brain and intensified the pounding in his head.

_I shouldn't have had that drink._

He stopped outside the classroom to gather his thoughts and catch his breath. The noise that greeted him as he entered the room made his head pound even more, and for a second he thought that his brain was going to explode.

"Settle down," he said, and then he shouted to make himself heard over the unruly teenagers. "Today we are going to have a free day," he said.

A few of the student's mouths fell open and Cassidy immediately raised her hand. "What's the catch Dr. O?"

"The catch is that you have to be completely silent or I will assign a nine thousand word essay due at the end of class."

He watched as his students immediately fell silent and was overjoyed when they stayed that way for the rest of the period. Smiling to himself he went to his desk and started to check roll. He ticked off the names one by one until he came to the F's. He looked around the room twice but Kira was no where in sight.

_Odd, she rarely misses class._ He marked an A for absent by her name and kept on going without thinking any more about it, and it wasn't until Conner and Ethan approached him after class that he remembered her absence.

"Dr. O, we need to talk with you."

"What's is it?"

Conner waited until the last student had disappeared out the door before he spoke. "It's about Kira….she's gone."

"Gone," repeated Tommy with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Yeah," said Ethan, "and there was a little…"

"…puddle of blood," finished Tommy.

"How did you know?"

Tommy placed his head in his hands and silently cursed himself for being so stupid.

"Dr. O," said Conner, with concern creeping into his voice. "Are you ok? Dr. O?"

Tommy finally looked up. "I've got to go. Go to you're next class, I'll find Kira."

"But…"

"Go."

Tommy made it back to his car in record time. As soon as his seat belt was fastened and he was on the road he dialed Jason's number. After the third ring his friend answered.

"Jase, its Tommy. Kira's disappeared too."


	3. Familiar Faces

Tommy sat on Jason's couch and rubbed his face wearily. Of all the things that could go wrong, this had to be the worse. Not only were there two former rangers missing, but now there was a current ranger missing, with no clues as to where to start looking for them. If there was ever a time that he needed Billy, this was it. Sighing, he turned to look at the man sitting beside him. Andros looked as bad as Tommy felt with his hair was messed up and all out of place. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his clothes were so wrinkled they looked like he had worn them for a year.

"What are we gonna do?" Zack's voice cut through Tommy's musing and brought him crashing back to the present.

"We need to contact Billy," said Jason.

Tommy shook his head. "No, Billy isn't on Aquitar anymore. The Aquitians abandoned their home world after an attack by space pirates a few years ago. I don't know where they went."

Jason threw up his hands in frustration, "convenient!"

"What about Trey," suggested a hollow sounding Andros.

Again, Tommy shook his head. "No, I don't think Trey can help us with this one."

Silence feel over the group like a black pall as Tommy immersed himself once more into his thoughts, and it wasn't until he felt Andros shift uncomfortable by his side that he realized he was not alone in the room.

Finally he spoke in a voice little more than a whisper. "I know someone who can help."

"Who? What? Where are they?" Were the questions that followed his little announcement. He held up his hand for silence and turned to Andros.

"I think you know who I'm talking about," he said.

Andros nodded his head and sighed. "Do you really think that they would help us?"

Without hesitating Tommy said yes.

Andros stood and walked towards the door, "I'll contact them immediately."

"Who are we talking about bro," asked Jason as Andros disappeared.

"You never met them, but I worked with them a few years ago. They're from a space colony not far from KO-35, but they are much more advanced than them. If any one can help us, they can."

--- --- ---

Jason was beginning to feel safer after three days aboard the Megaship. At first he had been leery about flying out into the depths of space, but after a while he found that is wasn't nearly as bad as he had thought it would be. It was much easier on the stomach than riding the waves on the ocean for days on end.

"Tommy," he said as he walked into the guest quarters, "tell me something about these rangers we are going to meet."

Tommy placed his notebook on the nightstand and turned on an extra lamp. "Well, there really isn't much to tell. They are just like all the other ranger teams that we've ever encountered, except they are from a much more advanced civilization, and when I say that, I mean **much** more advanced. I only meet three of them before, and they all seemed nice enough. Their leader is somewhat arrogant when you first meet him, but he gets over any quandaries he might have about dealing with lesser 'inferior humans' and is likable. I found that if you really want something done you have to go to his second in command, she's smart as a whip and has her CO wrapped around her finger, poor guy doesn't stand a chance when it comes to her. As for the other ranger, he's kind of quiet and tends to disappear into the background when everyone is talking, but all three of them are dependable and loyal in battle. I'd trust them with my life and yours too."

Zack and Jason nodded, this wasn't a concession that Tommy made easily, and when he did it really meant something.

"We have a problem" said Andros abruptly from the doorway, cutting off Jason's next question.

--- --- ---

Zack stared at the daunting stationary entity before them. "What is that thing?"

"It's the USCC Avenger."

"The what?"

"The biggest spaceship that has ever been built, it belongs to the United Space Colonies of Crema and is piloted by the Cremean rangers."

Jason's mouth formed the silent letter O as his awestruck brain refused to function. The ship before them was five times as big and five times as intimidating. It hung over them like a colossal blackened monster that could reach out at any second and devour them.

"Why is it just sitting there," wondered Zack aloud.

"Good question," said Andros. "Scans indicate that there are no life forms aboard the ship, and that all internal power is set to emergency."

Tommy stared at the silent sentinel towering over them, "and what does that mean….exactly?"

"That there was a fight." Andros pushed a series of buttons on the control panel before looked up to meet Tommy's steady gaze. "We have to go on board and see if there were any survivors."

"But I thought you said there were no life signs," said Zack falling into pace with Andros.

"There aren't, but the Avenger is a much more advance ship and may be shielding them from the Megaship's sensors to protect its passengers from another attack."

"Fine, but what if there are more people on that thing than just the rangers? What if we run into the bad guys? In case you have forgotten, we don't have our powers anymore."

"True, but you can still fight," said Andros as he rounded a corner. "Besides, we brought the other rangers for a reason. More man power."

Tommy nodded, "right. Zack, you and Jason go get the rest of the rangers while Andros and I get everything ready to board the Avenger."

"Whatever man," conceded Zack, "but I don't like this."

Tommy silently agreed with Zack, the uneasiness that had settle in the pit of his stomach since Jason's phone call days before had intensified ten fold since he had seen that ship floating lethargically in space. There was something about it that he didn't like, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what. There was a sense of foreboding growing around him that he couldn't seem to shake. Something had happened on that ship, something horrible, and deep down Tommy knew that what ever it was somehow connected to the disappearance of the girls. Stepping into the small craft that would take them over to the ship Tommy felt the urge to run, and as the towing giant began to eclipse the stars as they drew nearer ever fiber of his being was screaming at him to turn back before it was too late.

But the point of no return had already been reached, and the rangers were playing straight into destiny's hand.


	4. Paint the Silence

Tommy's feelings of unease were soon justified as he stepped into the large hanger bay of the USCC Avenger. The emergency back up lights gave off an eerie red glow and was the only source of light aside from the flashlights the rangers had brought with them. Occasionally a live wire would flicker and hiss near his head, causing him to duck for cover, but the ship was devoid of any other sound. As he crawled through pile after pile of smoking debris he began to think that the Megaship's sensors had been right. There was no way in hell than anyone had survived whatever had happened aboard the ship.

Tommy crawled forward on his hands and knees, his flashlight held tight between his teeth. He hadn't moved more that a few inches when a bloodcurdling scream painted the silence around him with fear and death. He froze as the echoing scream passed down the corridor and faded into the darkness.

"What was that," he whispered to the man behind him.

"I don't know," said Jason, fear coloring his voice, "but let's not stick around and find out."

"Right."

Tommy began to crawl in the opposite direction, far away form the origin of the scream, taking a side corridor that was less crowded, and slightly less destroyed. He found an easily manageable path that allowed him to half-way stand, and started in the direction of the blinking red dot on his tracking device that was Andros. Exiting the corridor a few yards down he found an abandoned store room and another corridor.

Jason followed along in Tommy's footsteps, constantly glancing behind for any movement in the shadows.

"I don't like this man. I don't like this at all."

"Just keep moving," said Tommy concentrating on the tracker and hoping that he wasn't walking in circles, or even worse, straight into a dead end.

Finally, he found the corridor that the red space ranger was on and ducked into it. The debris covered most of the floor and live wires swung menacingly overhead, just waiting for a careless victim to venture too close. He took to his hands and knees again and, allowing Jason to go first, followed the corridor until he found the space ranger.

"Pssst!"

Tommy craned his neck to look at Andros over a small pile of smoking rubble. The space ranger's face was grim, his eyes betraying what Tommy already knew: there was no life to be found, they were just wasting their time.

But still something gnawed at Tommy's stomach, something told him that they had to be extra cautious – they were in enemy territory after all, and that scream…it was like nothing he had ever heard before. It wasn't human, that much he was certain of.

"We should go back to the Megaship," he said, not daring to raise his voice above a whisper.

Andros nodded and began to backtrack towards the other ranger teams. Tommy made to follow him when his hand connected with something cold and familiar. His breath caught in his throat as he looked down at the hand sticking awkwardly out from beneath a mound of debris.

"Andros!"

The ranger turned at the sound of his name, his breath catching in his throat for a very different reason.

"Tommy! Behind you!"

The words had barley left his mouth as Tommy turned to find himself face to face with a huge black beast. Two rows of sharp, shiny, metal teeth smiled back at him like twin rows of tiny daggers. Caught hunched down against the wall Tommy had no where to go. He was trapped. He threw up his hands as the monster slung its giant club straight at his head. He tried to duck the blow but he felt it connect with the side of his head and white hot pain exploded before his eyes. He was vaguely aware of Andros calling his name and a blaster firing in the distance as his world came crashing down around him. The red glow faded as the room pitched and the world turned black.

--- --- ---

"Get a move on," hissed Wes from behind Rocky.

"I'm moving as fast as I can," he complained as he moved a heavy chunk of metal from the path. "Maybe one of you should be the ones clearing the way huh?"

Adam rolled his eyes, "you know this would go a lot fast if you weren't trying to pretend this was some kind of mission impossible mission…thing. I heard you humming the theme song!"

"Whatever man I don't…"

"Shut up, God, you two sound like an old married couple!"

Rocky turned to Wes, intent upon burning his ears with a venomous retort, but the sight that awaited him chocked off his sentence just as surly as if the man him had hit him.

"What are you staring at," asked Adam, amazed that Wes had finally silenced Rocky.

"Guys." Rocky's voice came out as a croak. He rubbed his throat and tried again. "Guys……..turn around."

Wes and Adam glance at each other and then slowly turned to see what the big deal was. Behind them, down a side corridor that they had passed but opted to not go down, they saw a still figure lying face down under the red glow of a back up light.

Adam crawled forward, his blaster at the ready. As he drawer near the prone figure he realized that it was a girl, her dark uniform torn and covered with dried blood. Slowly, as if afraid she would suddenly jump up an attack him, Adam placed his fingers on the side of her throat, feeling for a pulse. He nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt the warm surge of blood beneath his fingers.

"She's alive," he whispered to the other, "she's actually alive."

"Adam!" Andros' voice emanated from Adam's communicator breaking the spell of silence that had fallen over the red men. "We have to get off of this ship, meet us back at the rendezvous point."

"Andros we've found someone, she's alive."

"What, are you sure?"

"Yeah, we'll bring her with us."

"Ok, just be careful. We are not alone on this ship."

Adam and Wes exchanged worried glances.

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever attacked this ship never left it. They are huge black creatures with blazing orange eyes and huge clubs. Keep a look out and we'll meet you back at the ship."

Andros broke the communication as a very stunned Wes and Adam stared at the woman before them.

"I'll carry her," said Wes without a moment's hesitation. "You and Adam keep a look out for those creatures."

"Just when I thought this could get no worse, "mumbled Rocky pulling out his blaster and taking point as the small group slowly crept its way back to the hanger bay, completely unaware of the creature trailing along behind them in the shadows, hungering for the carnage that was to come.


	5. Revelations

Rocky and Adam broke into a run when the small ship that had brought them into this nightmare came into sight. Wes tried to keep up with the others, but was weighted down by his charge, and soon fell behind.

"Wes, run!"

He heard Rocky screaming at him at nearly the same time he heard the howl of rage behind him. He stopped, despite the others screaming at him, and turned around. There stood the towering black monster, its red stained claws outstretched, and its mouth curling up into a sneer. Without thinking, he turned and ran, clutching the girl as tightly to his chest as he could. He heard heavy footsteps as the monster chased after him and his blood ran cold. There was no way he could make it to the others before that thing caught him. Breathing hard and pushing himself to the limit he threw himself towards his friends, he hit the hard metal ramp and felt pain flash through his ankle as the monsters claws rip through the tender flesh. He began to crawl up the ramp, dragging the unconscious girl, and firing wildly back at the monster as he went.

"Help him," yelled Andros, as he too fired at the advancing creature.

Adam, Rocky, and Jason moved forward to drag Wes on board and shut the door. Wes moaned in pain and clutched at his leg as the small vessel shot out of the hanger bay to safety. Blinded by pain he reached out and grabbed the girl's arm, just to reassure himself that she was safely on board.

"Wes, lay still. It's gonna be ok," said Adam from a great distance away. His words were slow and drawn out and Wes wasn't sure if he was real as images and faces began to blur around him.

"Don't worry man, we'll be back soon."

Wes shook his head trying to clear the pain. As the voices faded away he heard a loud thump on the outside of the small ship.

"Whawastha?"

Looking confused Adam turned to Jason, "what did he say?"

Jason shrugged, "he's probably just hallucinating."

--- --- ---

Tommy lay still on the cold table, not daring to move for fear that the pain would return. The lights above him made his eyes water and incessant scratching sound made his head ache. He moved his right arm and placed it over his eyes in an attempt to block out as much light as possible. _Man this is worse than that last hangover,_ he thought dryly as a familiar voice drifted across the room.

"He'll be ok," he heard Andros say to the crowd gathered around Wes' bed.

"What abut them?"

Tommy uncovered his eyes and slowly moved his head to look at the occupied beds beside him. He immediately recognized the uniforms of the Cremean rangers, bloodied and torn; they looked nothing like the people he remembered. He counted them and came up two short, frustrated he counted again, but again he only saw four rangers. _Where are the other two! We are going to need ALL of them for this mission._

"Andros…"

"No, Tommy," said Andros stopping at his bed and pushing him back down. "Lay still, you're not well."

Tommy shook his head and immediately regretted it as a wave of nausea swept over him. "Andros where are the others and WHAT is that noise," he asked as the scratching sound continued overhead.

The space rangers' brow dipped in annoyance, "I don't know, probably just feedback or something, and don't worry about the others Tommy…"

"But we need ALL of them!"

Andros shook his head, "we couldn't find the green ranger and the black ranger….well, you found him under that pile of debris, and he…didn't make it."

Tommy closed his eyes; that was it then. They couldn't save Kimberly and the others without all of the rangers.

"Don't worry Tommy, we're still gonna find them," said Adam, misreading Tommy's reaction as fear instead of resignation.

"No," he said, "it's over. We need all of the Cremean rangers to save them."

"I never thought I'd see the day when Tommy Oliver would give up," said Rocky.

Tommy sighed, "I'm sorry guys, but it's impossible."

"Nothing's impossible Dr. O," said Conner appearing at the foot of the bed. "Besides, you've got all of us," he motioned around at the crowd of rangers. "We're here to help, and we're not leaving without our friends!"

A round of agreement swept through the room but Tommy didn't join in, he couldn't believe that they would succeed this time. The odds were stacked heavily against them.

--- --- ---

Jason watched the young woman in front of him cautiously sit up on the bed and look apprehensively around.

"How are you feeling," he asked.

She turned her yellow eyes on him and smiled weakly, "you're Jason right? Tommy told me all about you when we met before."

"That's right. I'm sorry to say that he's told me nothing about you."

"I'll live," she said in answer to his first question. "I'm called Jessa." She looked around and spotted two empty beds, but didn't say anything.

Jason ran a hand through his hair and eyed her, wondering if he should tell her that one of her teammates was dead, but she beat him to it.

"I guess you found Corin, the black ranger."

"Yeah, listen I'm real sorry but there was nothing we could do…"

"I know," she said softly. "I was there when it happened. He sacrificed himself to save us; otherwise we would all be dead right now.'

She looked away, unable to meet Jason's eyes, and continued. "They must have taken Emerson," she said noting that the green ranger was not among her wounded teammates.

Jason sighed, "Look I hate to be so cold, but we have a big problem right now, and we need you to tell us everything you know about this…what ever it is that's taking all of our friends. We're gonna stop it, but we need your help."

Jessa looked up, startled by the conviction in Jason's voice and distracted by the scratching sound above.

"They're called the Niar. Terrible creatures who never sleep, and feed off the fear of their pray. They revel in carnage, and only answer to one, Darkmoth the Destroyer. Darkmoth has no competition, and his only goal is to destroy the universe and everything in it, including himself."

"Wait, he doesn't want to rule it?"

Jessa shook her head, "no, he wants to completely obliterate it. See Darkmoth was once a human serving in the peace corps of the Cremean brigade, but he wasn't a very successful solider. He was teased mercilessly by his peers. One day he snuck into the DNA lab and stole a contaminated vile of strength potion. He thought that he was going to teach his tormentors a lesson, but his plan backfired. He turned into a hideous creature and went into hiding, vowing vengeance against the universe for allotting him such a wretched existence. He was consumed by hatred and eventually became one with the darkness. Now he's so close to achieving his goal, I don't think there is anyone strong enough to stop him."

"That's why were here," declared Jason, "We are going to stop him."

Jessa shook her head, "no, you don't understand, there's more to it than that. Now that he has your friends, it's only a matter of time before he destroys everything. They are the keys to ultimate destruction."

Jason's mouth fell open, "what? How do they play into all of this, exactly?"

"He needed four humans to complete the ritual. One had to be pure of heart and untainted by evil, which was Emerson. He needed one of them to be tainted by evil but redeemed, Kimberly. One who had once been under the spell of evil but never fully tainted, Ashley."

"Ok, what about Kira," he asked, horrified.

"Kira is just his blood sacrifice; she must have been a choice of convenience. Wrong place wrong time sort of thing."

Jason shook his head, "this is crazy."

"He's trying to open a portal between this world and its alternate realities. If he succeeds he'll have more than enough power to destroy the entire universe."

"How?"

"There is a weapon on an alternate Earth that can wipe out everything. It was developed in one of our labs, and he almost got his hands on it once before, but we stopped him and hid it. We never thought that he would find out where, there are thousands of realities out there…but we should have known. It was all in the scrolls."

Jason was tired off all the riddles and short answers, "what scrolls, what weapon?"

"The Cremean scrolls…look I could spend all day telling you all of this, but we don't have the time. Suffice it to say that if we don't find your friends soon and stop Darkmoth from opening that portal, we are all doomed. I'm not talking about some crackpot with cliché plans and a few half-baked bad guys at his disposal. I'm talking about the epitome of evil hell bent on destroying everything. If we are going to stop him we have to start right now."

Jason blinked at the girl's sudden change in attitude. "We are but we don't want to go into battle unprepared."

"Fine, but while were sitting here discussing the past, fate is rushing your friends toward their deaths, and the rest of the universe towards the apocalypse."

Tommy who had been listening to Jessa's tale finally spoke up.

"She's right Jase. We have to act now. "

"But Tommy, we don't have a clue…"

"I have a plan; go get the other rangers, quick. We're going to save Kimberly and the others, and we're going to start right now."

"No," Jessa shook her head, "it's already to late."

"What do you mean?"

Jessa looked up towards the ceiling. "Don't you hear it? They're already here."

"What…who?"

"The Niar and they'll destroy your ship like they destroyed ours."

"There's no way that they could have gotten on…" Jason broke off as the scratching stopped and ceiling collapsed under the weight of five Niar, who fell heavily to the floor, their crimson claws glaring oddly in the light, their teeth gnashing angrily.

Jessa covered her head with her hands as they advance on the small group, she glanced sideways at the brave red ranger as he strode forward to meet them, placing himself between his friends and the inevitable. Then she closed her eyes as the monstrously deformed creatures let out a bloodcurdling shriek and rushed towards the lone unarmed ranger.


End file.
